Electrical enclosures, such as, for example, load centers or panelboards, typically house multiple circuit breakers and/or related electrical accessories for distributing one or more phases of power (e.g., utility power or emergency power) to a plurality of loads (e.g., non-emergency lighting fixtures, emergency lighting fixtures). Automatic load control relays (UL 924 relays) or shunts can be used in emergency lighting schemes or solutions to monitor utility or normal power in a building and automatically turn emergency lighting fixtures on using emergency power from an emergency power panelboard when utility power from a utility power panelboard is interrupted (e.g., power outage).
Regulations restrict the mixing of utility and emergency power in the same location. And, each relay requires connections to emergency power for distributing the same to emergency fixtures in the building, and connections to utility power for monitoring the same. In common practice, the automatic load control relays are typically housed in individual junction boxes adjacent to or in the space including the emergency fixtures being controlled by the relay. Each utility power wire and emergency power wire—for connecting the relays to the respective power sources (e.g., emergency and utility)—are run separately to the remotely located relays. While such a practice works, it requires a vast amount of wires to be run from the electrical closest in the building—which houses the emergency power panelboard and the utility power panelboard—to each location including a relay and associated emergency fixtures. In some large scale buildings (e.g., 4 floors, 10 floors, 100 floors, etc.), such solutions can include hundreds or even thousands of relays requiring an extraordinary amount of wires throughout the building just to implement the emergency lighting scheme or solution.
Thus, a need exists for an improved apparatus and system. The present invention is directed to satisfying one or more of these needs and solving other problems.
The Background of the Invention Section above is provided to place embodiments of the present disclosure in technological and operational context, to assist those of skill in the art in understanding their scope and utility. Unless explicitly identified as such, no statement herein is admitted to be prior art merely by its inclusion in the Background of the Invention Section.